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F-Bomb Dropping TV Anchor Loses Out On New Job Offer

TV news anchor Justin Kraemer thought he had a new job lined up around the time he dropped an F-bomb on a live broadcast. But that was not to be, and he is now back to square one.

Kraemer apparently didn’t realize he was on a hot mic when he dropped the F-bomb as the credits rolled over an image of the local skyline as he signed off last Saturday evening. Kraemer, an Emmy winner who worked for NBC affiliate KSN TV in Wichita, Kan., and was a weekend news anchor, just finished tossing it to Saturday Night Live when he was heard to say to his co-hosts, “let’s get the f*** out of here.”

The station fired him on Monday morning, but Kraemer had already been in negotiations for a new gig in Colorado Springs, Colo. Unfortunately, apparently given the viral nature of Kraemer’s F-bomb, KOAA-TV, a different NBC affiliate, rescinded the job offer, so he was in a sense fired even before he was hired.

Kraemer told the Kansas City Star that his almost-new employer contacted him on Thursday with the bad news. “The conversation was very clinical and professional, and they informed me that this got a lot more attention than anyone could have possibly imagined when everything got started. They’re in a difficult situation because they don’t want to get national or global publicity just for making a reporter hire.”

In an interview with the Wichita Eagle, Kramer admitted that “I’m embarrassed. I did something extraordinarily unprofessional. It’s something that’s drilled into you from the minute you start in this business to always consider the microphones hot.” He emphasized that he understood the decision by KSN to let him go.

Of all the national attention, his Ron Burgundy-like gaffe received, Kraemer added that “You want to know why it struck a chord? Because TV news has got a lot of issues right now, and one of the biggest issues with TV news is that a strong argument can be made that it’s insincere and fake. At least I’m real. If I have an epitaph, that’s what it is.”

Do you agree with the “double-firing” of Justin Kraemer over the live TV F-bomb incident?